Unrest and Debt Pose New Risks.

The article discusses the results of the semiannual Country Credit survey conducted by the "Institutional Investors" magazine in March 2011. It notes that the average credit rating of countries in the Middle East and North Africa remained at 55.6 on a scale of 0 to 100. It points out that voting for the survey was conducted prior to the uprisings in the region. In the emerging markets, widespread gains in Asia were observed yet a number of declines were also found in Eastern Europe/Central Asia and Latin America.